Never the Same
by AmberMidnightSkies
Summary: After her mother got divorced and moved to America, she's going to her home country, Japan, for the first time in her life. When she begins going to Ouran, what kind of chaos will ensue when she meets the Host Club and what does she have to do with the Suohs? Read to find out! OC-centric and will follow the manga.
1. Prologue

It was my last day in America, the place where I had been born and raised. Even though I had been born in America, I was Japanese. My mother was born there and I would have been too, if she hadn't gotten divorced before I was born. She never re-married, but she was never upset about getting divorced either. She was strong and I admired her for that. Though, being raised by her has made me turn out the same way. Neither of us needed a man in our lives to be happy.

I never met my father, but it didn't really bother me. Sure, maybe at my mother's friend's parties when they had father-daughter dances, but I had never known what a father was like, so I couldn't miss something I never had. There are times where I think that my mother feels bad about it all, but she never lets it show.

We lived happily together, just the two of us. Though, I should probably explain more about my mom. See, my mom owns a large Hotel chain. My grandfather was the one who passed it down to my mom, the first born, saying something about being 'too old for this kind of stuff'. My grandparents then arranged a marriage between her and some big-shot business man in Japan. They wanted to have strong relations with one another so the businesses could help each other, but it didn't work out that way. Not long after my mom was pregnant with me, he left her. My mom, devastated, moved to America, never wanting to come face to face with him again and decided to expand the Hotel chain out there.

The family business flourished in America, with the largest hotels being in Miami, Los Angeles, New York and Las Vegas. Not long after that, I was born, and my mom's raised me all by herself. Well, I guess I shouldn't say that, we had maids and some nannies to look after me when she was busy with work, but she always made it a point to see how my day was and have dinner with me. I really respected her and still do.

Unfortunately, a couple months ago, my mom got sick and now we're at the airport in Orlando waiting for our flight to Japan. The reason we're going back to Japan is so my mom can get treatment, and because my mom wanted to go see grandfather as well.

"I'm so sorry, dear," my mom said for the umpteenth time since we arrived at the airport.

"Mom, it's fine. It's not your fault you got sick. I just want you to get better and if it means we have to move to Japan, it's fine. Plus, I'm looking forward to attending a new school. I've always wanted to go to Japan and see what it's like," I reassured her.

My mom put her arm around me and gave me a slight squeeze.

"You're such a strong girl… I'm so proud of you, you know that? I couldn't have asked for a better daughter," she said.

I smiled at her as we walked to the gate and boarded our private plane. Flying always kind of freaked me out, but I loved looking out of the plane's window to look out at the clouds below us. I brought my laptop and my phone to keep myself entertained for the next thirteen hours to Japan. My mom had the same along with her, so she could catch up on some work during the flight. Though, knowing her, she'd probably give up and take a nap after a couple hours. I never knew how she could sleep on a plane, but then again, she wasn't the one that was scared of flying.

I sat down across from my mom and buckled myself in. It would be a long flight, but at least I had my laptop and my music to keep myself occupied. Waiting thirteen hours would be torture, but on the bright side, it gave me time to research where I wanted to visit first when I got there. I was always enamored with Japanese culture, and finally being able to go there was the most exciting moment in my life. Or at least it would have been if the circumstances for going to Japan were different. Though, I think my mom was kind of happy to go back, seeing as she would be able to see her old friends, and finally go back home after fifteen years of being in America. Even though my mom was born and raised in Japan, she never once went back to visit, so the only time she ever got to see her friends and family, was when they came to visit us.

Not long after we took off, I opened my laptop and went straight to google. Now, the hard part was deciding what I wanted to do first when I got to Japan. Did I want to go to Shinjuku or Kyoto first?

"Hm… definitely Kyoto," I muttered, looking at the pictures.

"What was that?" My mom asked, looking up from her laptop.

"Oh, nothing. I was just trying to figure out where I wanted to visit when we got to Japan," I told her, grinning.

She smiled and nodded, looking back down at her laptop.

"Kyoto's a good choice," she said. "I remember going there with your father just after we got married…," she trailed off and it made me feel bad for bringing it up.

"What was he like…," I asked, quietly.

"What's with the sudden interest?" She asked, grinning with her right eyebrow raised in question.

"Well, I've always kind of wondered… but I never felt that it was important. I mean, not that its really important now, but I kind of want to know what he's like in case I ever run into him since we're moving to Japan," I said, but it wasn't exactly true. The real reason was because I've never actually known what a father was like. A part of me wanted to know if I was like him, too.

"Well, you have his eyes, and hair color, but you have my personality," she mused. "He was a huge flirt, so I suppose it was only a matter of time before he found someone else…" my mom looked down at her computer screen. "But, you know what? I'm glad. If he hadn't I never would have moved to America, and the business never would have taken off like it did. And who needs him when I have an amazing daughter like you," she exclaimed looking back up and smiling right at me, causing me to smile along with her.

"I feel sorry for him," I said.

"Why's that?" She asked.

"Because now he's not married to the best woman in the world," I replied, grinning.

My mom snorted, "Maybe you do share his personality after all."

The two of us had a good laugh and continued to gossip and talk for a couple hours before we went back to do doing our own thing. She had said she wanted to take me to Kyoto herself and that one day, most likely in the winter so we could see the Daimonji Bonfire, and we would go to Shinjuku on a shopping spree. She wanted to show me the ropes and really introduce me to Japanese culture and I couldn't have been more excited. Okinawa was next on the list, for summer vacation. My mom said that grandpa had a private cottage on the beach and that we could go out there to stay for the whole break. Lastly, was Hokkaido in the springtime. Apparently there were a lot of fields with flowers and of course, would look a lot better in the springtime.

Since I had my plans all set for when we got to Japan, the next thing would be to do a little research on the school I would be going to. The name of the school was Ouran, and I wasn't exactly sure what to think of that. It was some prestigious private school, and the girl's uniforms were kind of ugly to tell the truth. But, it was something my mom would approve of, seeing as they were dresses. They would be better if the sleeves weren't so puffy. Maybe I could ask one of the maids to tailor it for me? Nonetheless, the school grounds were gorgeous. The front of the school had a large fountain and a large courtyard. There weren't many pictures of it up on the internet, but I suppose it wouldn't be anyone's top priority to just blatantly post pictures of some random school all over the internet.

Tomorrow would be my first day at Ouran, even though I would be totally jetlagged. Since we were moving right in the middle of the first semester, it would be easier if I went to school right away so I could have more time to catch up. There was no telling what kind of day I would have tomorrow, but all I knew was that it would be the start of a new chapter in my life.


	2. A New Beginning

I could barely breathe and my dress felt just a smidge too tight for my liking. I was nervous as I walked through the large corridors of the school towards my homeroom. Questions whirled through my mind as I got closer and closer. What was school like in Japan? What kinds of people would be in my classes? Would I fit in? What if no one likes me? I'd never moved before, or changed schools, so I wasn't really used to all the change. I felt totally overwhelmed, but at the same time, kind of excited to see what life was like in Japan.

I was finally in front of the classroom doors, but I couldn't bring myself to open the door. Why couldn't I do it? I attended my mother's parties where I would introduce myself to dozens of her friends, so what was so hard about this? But, the fact was that it wasn't the same. Nothing would be after committing myself to going to a new school in a foreign country. Once I opened those doors, there was no going back. Never again would I walk through the halls of an American all girls high school. Nothing was the same. Sharply drawing in a large breath of air, I opened the door.

The teacher wasn't in the classroom yet, and everyone seemed to be minding their own business with their own little clique of friends. No one seemed to notice me, until I closed the door, a bit louder than I should have. All eyes were on me at the front of the classroom. I wasn't sure what to say or do, but someone helped ease the tension in the room.

"Hey, you're that new girl from America aren't you," one girl asked. She had brown hair with two little buns, on the back sides of her head.

I nodded and decided that it was probably the best time for me to introduce myself.

"My name is Yui Namazaki. It's a pleasure to meet all of you. Please take care of me," I said smiling and putting my arms behind by back along with my book bag and gave a slight bow. As I bowed, I took a good look around the room, and as I was looking over my new classmates, I couldn't help but notice two ginger twins who were blankly staring at me. They quickly went back to talking to some other boy who was much shorter than them with brown hair. They seemed to be very friendly with the boy, but the brown haired boy didn't seem to want anything to do with them and treated them as pests.

I decided not to put much thought into it and looked back at the girl that had first talked to me when I entered the room.

"I'm Momoka Kurakano, the female class representative of class 1-A. If you like, I could give you an official tour of the school during lunch hours," she offered, genuinely smiling at me. She seemed really nice and she wasn't fake like a lot of the girls I had met back home.

"That would be great, thank you Momoka," I said, bowing once again.

"Call me Kurakano," she said.

"Alright, Kurakano," I replied.

Before long, I was busy talking with Kurakano and her friends. They all seemed to be really interested in American culture, while I was the total opposite. I was really fond of Japanese culture and felt like I had so much to ask them. It was a lot of fun to have someone to talk to about Japanese culture who actually lived there. I learned so much more from talking to them that I had ever learned from watching dramas. I felt at ease with them and felt like I had made a few new friends in my first few minutes at Ouran.

Unfortunately that was short lived. The teacher came in after ten minutes of our conversation and everyone went to sit down except for me, who still didn't have a seat. After introducing myself to my teacher, I was simply instructed to find a seat at the back. There were only a few available and one of them was next to one of the ginger haired twins. I decided to take that one, since I would have been isolated if I had decided to sit in one of the others.

For a good majority of the class, I decided to simply mind my own business and focus on what our teacher was saying. The lesson just dragged on and they were much farther ahead than my school back home, so most of it made no sense to me. I would probably have to hire a tutor to help me catch up. Giving up on learning the lesson, I began to doodle on my notebook, until eventually the lesson was over and it was time for lunch.

I began packing up my things and putting them into my totebag. People were exiting the room and probably heading towards the lunchroom. I wasn't really sure where I could eat since I didn't want to impose on anyone. Kurakano would probably invite me to sit with her, and she did, but I told her to go and that I would catch up with her later for a tour of the school. Just as I was putting the last of my things in my bag, I noticed a couple of papers gently glide under my desk. Quickly, I picked up the stray papers and turned to see the brown haired boy from earlier smiling at me sheepishly.

"Sorry about that," he said. His voice was rather high for a 15 year old, but I didn't really think much of it.

"It's fine," I reassured and handed him his papers.

"My name is Haruhi by the way," he introduced.

"Yui," I replied.

I looked over at his desk and noticed a cute little boxed lunch sitting on it.

"Is that yours," I asked, gesturing to the box.

"Yeah, it's just some leftovers from last night's dinner," he replied looking over at it.

"Huh. I've never actually met anyone who brings leftover dinner to school. Is it still warm?" I asked peering curiously at the box.

"I'm not rich like you are, so this is normal for me. It's usually kind of warm when I get to eat it though," he replied.

"Wait, so you're a commoner?" he nodded, "That's so cool! You must know a lot about Japan and its culture, don't you?"

"Well, I guess," he muttered, scratching the back of his head.

"Would you mind if I sat with you at lunch?" I asked.

"Sure, if you don't mind sitting in the classroom," he replied.

"That's fine, I don't really want to go to the lunchroom. I usually tried to avoid it back home," I explained.

"If I go in there, I know for sure that they'd make a huge fuss about it…" he muttered.

"Who?" I asked, taking the seat next to his desk. I think it belonged to one of those twins.

"The Host Club," he replied exasperated. "Sometimes I wonder about their sanity."

I giggled.

"They can't be that bad, can they?" I asked.

"Well, they're not very subtle, I can tell you that. They can be kind of a pain at times," he replied.

"A pain? Those twins aren't part of it, are they?" I asked.

"They are, and they're two of the worst members," he replied. "They treat me like I'm their toy. I don't even get much time apart from them and the Host Club. Sometimes I just wish they would leave me alone."

"You know, Haruhi… you're not like other guys," I told him, which seemed to have taken him aback and suddenly looked kind of flustered.

"R-really," he gulped, his voice rising half an octave.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, eyeing him strangely. Something was up, and I wanted to find out.

"N-no! Nothing!" he exclaimed, looking rather pale.

"Are you sick?" I asked worriedly.

"N-no, it's just that no one has ever said that to me before," he said sighing in relief, not that I could really understand why. There was something weird about him, and it became more evident as we continued to talk. Any time I brought up boys, he seemed to tense up, and it really didn't make any sense as to why.

Soon, Kurakano came back to the classroom and we began our tour around Ouran. Kurakano was extremely nice and she took her time to explain the function of different facilities around Ouran, and she told me about special events they held there. But, there was still one thing that was bothering me.

"Hey, Kurakano… do you know anything about Haruhi Fujioka?" I asked as we walked through the courtyard.

"I was wondering when you'd ask," she giggled. "You two seemed to be getting along really well in the classroom. But just so you know, there are a lot of other girls that have their sights set on Haruhi, along with other members of the Host Club."

"Host Club?" I asked.

"They're our school's most popular boys," she explained. "Haruhi is part of it, and so are the twins in our class." That explained why Haruhi said the twins treated him like he was their toy. "They entertain the girls every day after school and sometimes they even have special themed days. They'll be hosting today after school, do you want to come?"

"I, uh, sure," I agreed. "You'll have to guide me to the club room, though. I still don't really know my way around even though you gave me such a nice tour."

She laughed and shook her head.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," she replied. "My friends and I go there most days after school. I, myself, request Haruhi, so you can sit with me and the other couple of girls that also request him."

"Thanks, Kurakano," I smiled.

"Anytime," she smiled back.

Kurakano and I made our way to the lunchroom and helped me order lunch. The two of us went and sat with her friends and as I ate my lunch, I was bombarded with questions about America. Some of them had cottages out there, but they rarely ever visited them. It was fun to talk with them about American culture, and some of them even asked me to help them with their English homework, which for me was kind of funny. Some of them had a very hard time with the English language so, some of their work made no sense, which caused me to chuckle as I read through it.

Around 10 minutes before the end of our lunch break, I decided it would be best if I tried to find my way to our classroom from there. Kurakano offered to take me back, but I told her that it would be better for me to find my way back on my own so I could get to know the school better.

When I managed to find my way back to the classroom, Haruhi was still in there, boxed lunch put away, but had all of his notes out. His handwriting, from what I could tell, was really neat and his notes were very well organized. Another thing that I found strange for a boy, but maybe boys were different in Japan. Though, either way Haruhi still seemed like a strange male.

'Maybe he's gay,' I thought to myself. I supposed that there was always that distinct possibility, but it didn't exactly seem like the case. 'He was really cold to those twins, so it doesn't really seem like he would be, but everything else about him points to him being gay. Maybe I'll find out more about him if I go to this Host Club that Kurakano was talking about.'

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"Welcome."

Rose petals fluttered everywhere as Kurakano, her friends and I walked through the doors to the third music room. There were seven boys all around the room, greeting everyone as they walked in. Haruhi was there along with the twins from our grade. I still wasn't sure what their names were, but they were never apart. There were also another two that seemed to never be apart. One was extremely tall and the other the exact opposite. It was strange to see them side by side with their massive height difference. The last two were also polar opposites, but personality wise. One was very quiet and reserved, always writing things down in his black note book, and the other was loud and very talkative. He seemed to be rather popular and all of the girls seemed to be flocking around him.

"Yui," Kurakano called. Her and a couple other girls were walking towards a small table, and I guessed since Kurokano was going there, Haruhi was probably there as well. I quickly ran up to Kurakano and the two of us sat next to each other at the table.

"Thanks for coming," Haruhi said as he sat down at the table with us. Haruhi looked around the table and when he saw me he smiled. "It's nice to see you again, Yui. What brings you to the Host Club?"

"Well, I suppose I'm not really all that interested in it, but I thought I'd at least come check it out. From what Kurakano told me, this is the most popular club at Ouran," I explained, gesturing over to Kurakano. "Plus, I enjoyed talking to you at lunch." I gave him a small smile.

"I'm glad," He said. "Anyway, you probably don't know who anyone in the Host Club is. The twins over there are in our class. The one you sit next to is Hikaru, and the other one is Kaoru." I nodded as the group glanced over at the twins. They were with a few girls, just like Haruhi and they were all laughing away. "The black haired one with glasses that's typing on his laptop is Kyoya. Then there's Hani and Mori. The tall one is Mori and the small child-like boy is Hani. Lastly, there's Tamaki. He was the one that started the Host Club along with Kyoya."

"I wonder how they came up with something like a Host Club," I said.

"Well, apparently it was Tamaki's idea, which doesn't surprise me," he replied.

"Do you know how they became friends Haruhi?" Kurakano asked.

"To be honest, I have no idea. I guess I've never really thought about asking them before," he said. "Hey Haruhi, out of curiosity, who would you say you're closest to in the Host Club?" one of the girls asked.

"Well, Hikaru and Kaoru I guess, but it's mostly because we're in the same class," he explained.

"Are you guys doing anything for summer vacation?" Another asked.

"Oh, yes! The Host Club is planning a trip to the beach, and we'd be honored if you ladies would be interested in joining us during the holidays," he smiled.

"What beach?" Kurakano asked.

"According to Kyoya, Nekozawa's family has a private beach up there and they've allowed us to rent out the beach for a couple days," he explained.

"That sounds like fun, doesn't it, Yui?" Kurakano whispered. "Why don't you come? It'd be a good chance to get to know everyone better."

"I'll have to ask my mom, but I'll probably be able to," I replied.

"Great," she said. "If we have roommates, you can room with me."

"Thanks," I replied enthusiastically. I was really excited about the trip, and about Kurakano's invitation. She was the nicest person I'd met so far, and her friends were really nice too, "It seems like fun!"

She nodded and the two of us went back to focusing our attention on Haruhi, though for different reasons. I was still trying to figure him out, but nothing that went down really swayed towards or away from him being gay. Maybe if I asked Kurakano more about him, I'd be able to figure it out. After all, I had just met the boy.

Even though at first I wasn't totally interested, I found that going to the Host Club was really amusing. Everyone's characters were so different from one another, but that was what really brought them together. Their characters contrasted one another, and brought out their qualities. They were definitely an amusing bunch and I could see myself attending from time to time. It also seemed to bring people closer together, with people always gossiping about the Host Club, and fawning over Hosts. It really was a place where everyone felt accepted no matter who they were. It was truly a magical place.

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**I'm really sorry that I haven't updated in a couple of weeks, but Christmas is a very busy time of year for me. Anyway, I'm going to try to update weekly, but we'll see how that goes. Just remember though, that the more you guys review and follow the story and favourite, the sooner new chapters will be up! **

**Anyway, next week we'll finally start following the manga, and it'll make it that much easier to write new chapters! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and hopefully it'll become more exciting in future chapters.**


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